CHELONIA. 715 



latter, and the lateral indications of a tooth are less marked, and the alveolar furrow 

 is not so broad. 



As in T. actinodes, the dorsal portion of the vertebral column is much com- 

 pressed as contrasted with T. elongata^ and more removed from the neural plates. 

 The sacral vertebras are two in number ; and all the caudal vertebrae (22 in number) 

 to the extremity of the tail, bear caudal ribs perfectly distinct from the vertebrae. 

 In the first caudal, the rib nearly touches the pelvis, but in the second the rib is 

 suddenly smaller, and still more so in the third, but in the fourth there is a sudden 

 increase in size, and the ribs increase in length to the eighth, after which they gra- 

 dually decrease in size. 



The individual elements of the manus and pes are feeble compared with those 

 of T. elongata. 



The sternum presents the same type as the sternum of T. actinodes, hav- 

 ing a comparatively narrow xiphiplastron compared with T. elongata ; and the form 

 of the entoplastron agrees with that of T. actinodes, but is smaller and not so 

 quadrangular as in T. elongata. 



The eyes have the sclerotic bones so prevalent in the land tortoises and Umydes. 

 The colour of the shell is variable. In the types it is covered with broad yellow 

 lines radiating from the yellow areolae, with intervening dark-brown areas, as in 

 T. actinodes, but much broader than in that species, only three arising from each side 

 of the second and third vertebrals, and all being directed outwards ; the antero-posterior 

 lines from the anterior and posterior margins of these areolae and from the anterior 

 border of the fourth areola being absent, and the interspace in the mesial line between 

 these vertebral plates being a transversely lozenge- shaped brown figure. Pour yellow 

 lines diverge from the posterior border of the areola of the f om^th vertebral, two 

 from the anterior aspect of the fifth, and six from its posterior border. Two lines 

 proceed from the sides of the first vertebral areola and join the two most anterior 

 yellow lines from the second vertebral, and two lateral yellow lines pass out from 

 the sides of the first vertebral areola. The areolae of the costals are connected above 

 by a longitudinal yellow line joined at its middle by the mesial lateral yellow line 

 of the vertebrals, and three to four divergent yellow lines pass down from the costal 

 areolae to the marginals, from the areolae of which two yellow lines are upwardly 

 divergent ; but there are no other transverse lines as in T. actinodes, and the area 

 between the downwardly divergent lines is dark-brown in its upper half and 

 yellow in its lower half. 



This coloration, which is very regular and distinct in the types, is much obscured 

 in some individuals which are yellow, with brown radiating lines, the general colour 

 of the shell being yellowish. The absence of yellow lines between the vertebrals in 

 the mesial line, and the dark-brown character of that area, and the brown and 

 yellow area between the costal areolae and the doTOward lines, are the character- 

 istic colour-features of this species. The under surface of the sternum in these 

 yellowish individuals is yeUow, with only some brown patches along the margins of 

 the shields. I have never seen the plastron of a brightly coloured individual. 



